Campaign Review: Centrum, Duro-Tuss and Mood Tea judged
In Campaign Review, Mumbrella invites the industry’s creatives and strategists to offer their views on recent ad campaigns. This week: TBWA's Sebastian Revell and CHE Proximity's Richard Shaw look at campaigns from Centrum, Duro-Tuss and Mood Tea.
Brand: Centrum
Campaign: ‘Live Colourful‘
Agency: Hero
The verdict: Might be too safe in a tough category
Sebastian Revell, strategy director at TBWA, says:
The health and wellness category is getting busier and busier, from tech brands to fashion brands to supplement brands; they are all claiming their right to play in a very emotionally-charged area for consumers. Many of these brands position themselves in the same old conventions and tropes of ‘be your personal best’, or ‘live a fulfilled life’, or ‘be transformed’ etc. And this unfortunately, is the trap that Centrum have fallen into. The result is that ‘Live Colourful’ ends up being quite indistinguishable, where you could swap out logos and product and no-one would know who or what was being advertised. And for an increasingly hectic category – distinctiveness is key.
However, what Centrum do well is nodding to a more complete image of fitness e.g. “swap leg day, for head day”. By teasing this they are promoting that fitness and wellness isn’t just for our physical muscles. Brands that can distinctively and consistently provide a service and/or communicate a POV that talks to there being more muscles that need exercising than just those we can see, will set themselves apart in health and wellness over the long-term.
Rating: 6/10
Richard Shaw, creative director at CHE Proximity, says:
Like Duro-Tuss we are in a difficult, highly regulated category. Again we’re pretty light on with RTBs so the ad takes the approach of “people don’t have to be perfect”. Which is true and an admirable stance from a brand, although now quite common now, so the only way to make it resonate is to be truthful and brave in execution. Although fun and joyful, this is very much a commercial look at that statement.
It’s safe, everyone in this film is pretty perfect, happy and life is good, despite being “the real them”. Again after watching, I not sure I’m compelled to take an essential trip outside to load up on Centrum. I haven’t fallen in love with the brand for what it stands for or heard a genuine reason to buy.
Rating: 5/10
Brand: Duro-Tuss
Campaign: ‘Lingering Cough‘
Agency: Clemenger BBDO Sydney
The verdict: Tough to market a cough cure during COVID-19, falls flat
Revell says:
Having a cough these days is far more serious than it used to be thanks to COVID, and I’d actually be intrigued to know if cough remedies have increased (people being more acute to symptoms) or declined (people being frightened to be seen with symptoms) in sales because of it? Anyway, here we are in health and wellness again, but this time no conventions or tropes! Instead Duro-Tuss have built their emotional territory with quirky Aussie charm. The casting for the ‘lingering cough’ embodiment is spot on; I mean of course that’s what a lingering cough looks like!
With what can be quite a functional and thus, creatively uninspired sub-category to advertise, Duro-Tuss do a humorous job of communicating themselves a bit differently, and ordinarily they would probably see a sales spike because of it. But then again, they might not; I’d still be interested to know what broader cultural and consumer impact COVID has had on products like this…
Rating: 7/10
Shaw says:
Let me start by saying, this is a tough category. You can tell it’s tough, because I can only assume the client has made our friends at The Pier put the logo on screen for the duration of the ad. Maybe because there doesn’t seem to be anything particularly unique to say about the product or could be claimed without 39 seconds of disclaimers?
Without really saying anything, the execution has fallen into a relatively well trodden path of turning the problem into a human. I do give kudos for making the man in the bodysuit nicely deadpan. But next time I have a lingering cough and I’m standing in the pharmacy (obviously post the all clear from a COVID-19 test) will I remember this ad and be inspired to reach for the Duro-Tuss? I guess only time will tell, maybe having the logo up for 15 seconds will work.
Rating: 5/10
Brand: Mood Tea
Campaign: ‘Sip Selflessly‘
Agency: The Monkeys
The verdict: Well done for an important cause
Revell says:
In the increasingly tricky ‘purpose’ space, there is no lack of credibility or authenticity here from Mood Tea. This is because youth suicide prevention is central to the brand’s DNA; UnLtd (and their industry partners) created Mood solely for the purpose of tackling this massive societal issue. Strategically, the choice of creating a tea brand to do this is canny. ‘Care for a cuppa?’ is colloquial royalty, so it is the perfect product to carry a message of opening up and talking about mental health.
When watching their new ‘Sip Selflessly’ campaign, it’s hard not to immediately recall Haribo’s series of hilariously dubbed ‘Kids’ Voices’ ads from a few years ago. So this was personally slightly jarring at first, using a perceived comedic device for such a serious and important message. But when I got over it, the juxtapositions of the dubbing and offbeat scenes were certainly eye-and-ear-catching. I was also surprised to find no mention that the tea is designed to actually affect your mood in various ways, which is their big point of difference from a product perspective. Although, I understand why this wasn’t emotional enough for their lead message (it’s a functional message job for the comms strategy no doubt).
Rating: 7/10
Shaw says:
As an industry I’m sure we’ve all often wondered if we can do more. This is an incredible initiative that’s seen a huge number of companies come together to help a very real problem. For that I can only applaud every person who made this happen and hope it make a real difference in the lives of a lot of people.
As for the films, there’s craft and it feels very considered. I do wonder if it was chance to make something truly memorable for Mood Tea, but I’ll go back to my earlier point, I applaud the project, its ambition and genuinely hope it helps.
Rating: 8/10
As told to Anna Macdonald. If you’re a senior creative or strategist who would like to take part in a future Campaign Review, please email anna@mumbrella.com.au.
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topics
Campaign Review
centrum
CHE Proximity
Clemenger BBDO Sydney
Duro-Tuss
hero
MOOD Tea
Richard Shaw
Sebastian Revell
TBWA
The Monkeys
